Back to the Sea
by Jane D. Doe
Summary: The Rose Pirates discovered they had a spy amongst themselves. After a harsh battle, the marines thought the pirates were dead. But that wasn't true. They had somehow survived the ambush. Every one of them went his own way. Now, they are coming together once again to find the one who shattered their dreams to pieces and seek their revenge. But will everything go as planned?
1. Prologue

_Place: Sabaody Archipelago_

_Time: 10 days before Zoro's arriving_

She was walking down the dirty road, all gazes going her way. In fact she wasn't wearing anything special – plain top, shorts and high heel-boots, all in black. But this, together with her silver-like eyes and dark hair made her look like the Death itself.

Her looks were one reason why no one dared to approach her. Other was the fact that anyone brave enough to walk like her in this part of the archipelago was definitely not a joke.

Actually, she just didn't give a damn about her surroundings. She had long ago decided that this was the only way to keep the unwanted away. There was a place she had to go and nothing could've stopped her.

The destination was Shakky's Rip-Off Bar. Not a place one would hurry to reach, judging by the name. But that didn't seem to bother her.

When she reached it, the unexpected atmosphere hit her in the face. There was Shakky, smiling more than usual, and Rayleigh. Not only he was present but even had a somewhat happy expression.

_Something good must've happened,_ she thought.

"Wel- Oh, what a surprise!" said the owner with a cigarette in her hand.

"Jane, huh? Looks like you haven't changed."

"Really, Rayleigh-san! You shouldn't say such things to a woman, you know?" replied she with half a smile.

That's right. This Death-like girl was called Mary Jane. That was an alias she'd been using ever since childhood. Two months ago, she turned 22. This meant that she was using her current name for over ten years. One would think she'd forget what she was called before but not her. She could not forget, even if she wanted to.

"With you, being here, I suppose **that** is already decided?" Rayleigh's voice got more serious.

"Yeah, I spoke to everyone on the Den Den Mushi."

"Oh, then, Mary-chan, you're going back there? That's great!"

"Thank you, Shakky-san. But it looks like I'm the only one here…"

"Where's your meeting place?" asked the Dark King after a few seconds.

"About that–"

"Comin' in!"

The voice that came from the door was another girl – around the same age as Jane, wearing similar clothes…

"JJ!"

The surprised woman turned herself towards the newcomer. Jennifer Jackson – or JJ – looked just as surprised.

"Jane! And here I thought I'd be the first one to arrive…"

"Jeez, you never change."

The eye-rolling was her way of saying 'Good to see you!' It was completely ignored, though.

"Shakky-san, Rayleigh-san! It's been a while!"

Both of them smiled warmly back to her.

"So your meeting place is here, am I right?" he asked Jane.

"Is that a problem?" she sat on a chair near the bar.

"No worries, no worries!" Shakky laughed.

"There are more important things to talk about right now."

"Like what?"

Jennifer followed Death Girl's example and sat on her left side.

"The marines, huh?"

"But their Head Quarters moved to the Red Line, right? That's why there are so many outlaws around here."

"Yes", Rayleigh nodded. "But I have a feeling that a big storm is coming our way and it might be better for you to avoid it."

"Eh~? Why's that?"

Even though she said that, Jennifer wasn't really interested in the answer. It was just her personality. The Dark King, as well as everyone else present, knew that so he didn't bother to answer.

"So you need to be really careful. If the marines caught you before you even set sail it would be quite a disappointment, no?"

"Yes, yes. Did you hear that, Captain?"

"No recklessness this time, okay?"

A male voice, followed by a female one, came from the door. Their owners appeared out of the light and if anyone looked closely, they'd notice that the female was wearing almost the same clothes as the other two women. The man, on the other side, was wearing a white costume.

"Chris! Maria!" the surprised Jennifer stood up.

As she and Jane went to the newcomers, the four of them were smiling.

"Yo!"

"It's been quite some time, Mary-san, Jennifer-san. Rayleigh-san and Shakky-san, too!"

"Only two left, huh?" Jane sighed. "As expected of those guys…"

As she was saying that, through the open door two more men came in.

'Those guys' she mentioned, were the infamous (four years ago) Twin Pirates. Their names were Peter Rachkov and Dimitri Makarov. No one knew why they had different last names – they just did.

"Say that again, I dare you!" almost yelled Peter as he entered.

"I will!" answered the same way Dimitri. "You. Are. Idiot!"

"What did you– Ah, you're already here."

"Told you."

Both of them stopped quarreling and did something that could pass as a salute… with incredible imagination.

"Stop that, seriously."

Out of the people at the bar, Jane was the only one who wasn't smiling, laughing or in any other way expressing joy. She actually really hated it when the brothers acted so military-like. Not only this, they even dressed soldier-like. Sometimes, it almost drove her crazy. Not that they seemed to notice, or anyone else. For that reason, she had her diary – not the ship diary, but her own. There, she was listing all of the things that pissed her off about her crewmates. Not that they knew of that. And it was too late to tell them, anyway. She had lost the diary that fateful night four years ago.

"Okay" she started, "now that we're all here–"

"Captain!"

Chris' interruption made her fake smile even more fake. Only Shakky and Rayleigh noticed, though.

"What is it?"

"Before you start, I'd like to say something. It's important."

"Go on."

Now with permission, he faced his crewmates and started talking. If looked closely, one could see that in his eyes there was worry – and fear, as weird as it was.

"Well, as the shipwright of this crew, I could not just ignore the fact that something is missing. Everyone knows this but four years ago, we lost a lot of things. Some - more important than others. But there's one thing we lost that was of great importance – our ship. For a pirate crew to exist, they must have a ship. But we don't have. The One-eyed Joe sank due to the battle. Thankfully, there were four years of time to solve this problem."

"Wait a second," Jennifer interrupted. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Exactly!" Maria answered with a smile. "Come!"

They all bid Shakky-san goodbye after which the pirates went outside, with Chris and Maria leading. Rayleigh went after them.

The group was pretty quite which alone meant a lot – they were the type of people that were never quiet. But the second they saw the ship, they froze for real.

"I present you… the Flying Lucy!"


	2. Chapter 1

_Time: 10 days before Zoro's arrival at Sabaody Archipelago_

_Place: Somewhere between Sabaody Archipelago and the Fish-Man Island_

The ship had submerged some time ago and everybody had already gotten used to the sea around them. For that, another issue was starting to bug them. Unfortunately, it was the kind that could create a really troublesome situation.

And it wasn't that long until one of the pirates gave in.

"So…," started Jennifer. "Why did you call the ship 'Flying Lucy', again?"

And everyone else followed.

"Jennifer!" exclaimed Maria.

"What?"

"Don't!"

"'Don't' what? I was just asking a question."

"Don't make excuses, I know exactly what-"

"Stop it, both of you!" Dimitri joined in. "Arguing won't accomplish anything!"

"Oh, don't you dare act like the good guy," Peter suddenly got agitated. "You are just as curious as her!"

"Well, maybe but shouting to each other won't solve anything!"

"You are shouting, too!" Jennifer told him.

"So are you!"

This shouting continued for a few minutes and during that time, no one noticed that neither the one who the first question was directed to, nor the captain said a thing. It wasn't until all of them lost their energy to shout that they noticed this fact.

"Won't you say something?" Maria looked at Chris.

"I have nothing to say."

For a few seconds he seemed like he had nothing to add but then suddenly started talking again.

"Personally, I don't see anything wrong with the name. And I can't understand why all of you are so concerned. Take it as you may, but it's just a name. And in case you still look for a reason, I'll tell you this: it's the name of a dear friend of all of us." Everybody was quiet and didn't dare to interrupt. "Weather you accept this or not, it's true. Lucy was part of this crew and I won't deny this fact. I also won't deny the fact that she wasn't who we thought her to be. But this… it changes nothing. And if any of you has any problem with the name of this ship, you can go talk to Captain. And yes, she approved of the naming."

For a few moments, he just stood there with an empty expression before going with a slow pace back to the boys' cabin.

Jennifer, being who she is, didn't wait for the mood to lighten up. She just went straight up to the next topic in her head.

"Speaking of which, where is Jane?"

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her since we submerged" Maria looked around with worry in the eyes. "And you, boys?"

Both the twins shook their heads.

"Well, that's just great" said Peter. "Christopher is angry and Mary Jane-san is who-knows where."

"Anyway, let's look for her. It's not as if she can get off the ship, anyway."

That being said, the brothers and Jennifer went off to look around.

_Now that I think about it, the only one who can (probably) find Mary-san here is Chris-kun. After all, he's the only one who knows this ship well enough._

As Maria thought this, she chuckled and went to see how Chris was doing.

Meanwhile, somewhere around the ship, Jane was in deep thought…

"_What is the meaning of this?" yelled the girl._

"_Don't play dumb!" Jennifer was angry. "How could you?!"_

"_Like I said, what are you talking about?"_

_While on the other hand, the girl was confused._

"_You know just well what I'm talking about!"_

"_No, I don't!"_

"_Please," said with a sad tone Maria. "Don't make it any difficult than it already is."_

"_Not you too…"_

"_Look, just tell us. Why?"_

"_Chris!" she cried._

_She was deeply hurt by his words, by all of theirs' actually. And her confusion was slowly turning into rage, Jane noticed. She could see it in her eyes._

"_If this is some kind of joke, I'll tell you this: it isn't funny!" she was getting really pissed off. "Where are those two idiots? This was their idea, wasn't it? COWARDS! Show yourselves!"_

_As she shouted this, she tried for the hundredth time to remove the handcuffs. But Jane knew better – the sea stone in the handcuffs was the ultimate weakness of all devil fruit users. If when she bought them, someone had told her that they would be used this way, she would've called him crazy… and a bunch of other uncensored names. And yet, here she was, watching it all happen before her eyes._

"_Jane…"_

_The girl finally noticed that the captain was present. So did the others. Maria tried to say something but she shut her up with just one gaze. Jane stared into the girl with empty expression._

"_Jane, please…" she cried._

_Tears appeared in her eyes. She was looking at her long-time friend with pleading eyes._

"_I-"_

_What she was about to say, no one could know. At that moment, the chest of the girl was pierced. And in that moment, something in Jane cracked._

"_LUCY!"_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Jennifer's voice.

"Jane! Where are you~?"

And with that, the time for remembering the past was over. She noticed the tears that were flowing from her eyes and immediately wiped them. As the captain, she could not let the others see her in such pitiful state. So she stood up and went out of the place she had hidden herself in.

"What? I'm over here!"

She put on the usual 'I-dare-you' smile and went over to her friend.

"Jeez, where were you? I must have searched the whole ship! If Chris had helped, it would've been so much easier and yet…"

"Did something happen?"

"No."

"Yeah, right. I know you. What did you do this time?"

"I swear nothing! By the way, I wondered, what happens if one day you hide and forget how to come out?"

"What do you mean 'what'? You'll come and save me, of course!"

"I thought so."

"But seriously, what happened?"

"Well, that's…"

As they continued talking, everything seemed to be back to normal. But in the depths of Jane's consciousness, the pain of what happened four years ago was locked. And as she had irresponsibly let the thoughts of Lucy overtake her, it awakened. Now, it was slowly unlocking the door it was shut behind and was flowing into Jane. Who knows what the after-effects would be?


End file.
